Deploying Cell Amps in Nigeria

Greetings and salutations!

How long would you be willing to walk to get reception on your cell phone? For some Nigerians, they were walking hours over multiple miles whenever they wanted to make a phone call. For some national Bible translators, this was still the best option they had.








In the last two weeks, I was fortunate to be able to travel to with Bob Bates to Nigeria in order to set up cell amps at four locations. These cell amp systems boosted the signal strength of cell networks from nothing or one bar to a full five bars. We traveled to the Northwest and around Jos which is in Plateau state.






Now these Bible translators can call and send e-mail from their office. This saves valuable time as they work on their Bible translations. They can communicate with other translators and consultants by phone with questions they have. E-mail allows more in depth textual questions with consultants. The Nigerian Bible translators were so happy to get these cell amps.

There are three basic parts of the cell amp system. There is an cell amp antenna we mount on the top of a large pole. This attached to the two units in the picture to the left. They are a power regulator and another antenna for rebroadcasting the cell signal in the area. This is all powered by solar power or generators.

Nigeria is an amazing place in terms of languages. It has the second largest amount of languages needing to be translated in the world. There are still over three hundred languages to be translated in Nigeria alone. Hundreds of languages have already been translated or are in the works. The total amount of languages that needed translation in the first place was over 500.

When I went to Nigeria I expected the roads would not be very good. Happily most of the roads I was on were relatively nice. However, one section of road we traveled was beyond bad. The last three and a half hours of a twelve hour road trip took place on an absolutely miserable road. This thirty year old road was not constructed well in first place. If there was a foundation it eroded all over the place, washing out large parts of the pavement. The constant jaw jarring potholes and other obstacles caused some of us to loose our lunch out the side of the car. Many of you would not call this a road at all. In fact a road we took later that was dirt only was a lot better than this one. I sadly don't have a picture of this road. However, I do have a picture of some of the traffic in Jos.

I would like to thank you for your support as I traveled in Nigeria. As you might know there has  been some troubles in the country with regards to fighting and the militant group Boko Haram. Fortunately we did not see any trouble and the hot spots were in different states than the ones we traveled through.
 On this trip I was able to visit two pretty neat groups. The first is called NetAccess and the second is called NBTT. NetAccess is trying to provide internet access to Nigerians in and around Jos. They help by providing internet for Wycliffe Associates and NBTT. NBTT is a Nigerian Bible Translation group Wycliffe is working with. Wycliffe has helped advise NetAccess as they have started. The fellow I am working with in the picture to the left is a technician from NetAccess.

I have a few pictures here from the NetAccess office. In the front they offer an internet café to anyone needing such access. Otherwise, they can beam or run cables to other groups who need them. I stayed at the NBTT guest house for Wycliffe Associates folk while in Nigeria.

Anyway, the trip was a wonderful success. I even was able to meet my father on my way out of Nigeria. He was coming in for some meetings of his own the same day I left. We met in the airport at Abuja and were able to have lunch at a Mr. Biggs close to the airport.

Despite this